Sacramento Bee: Letters: A step to limit big money in politics

The article by The Sacramento Bee’s Jim Miller highlights the need to close loopholes that allow politicians to skirt individual campaign-contribution limits.

I authored Senate Bill 1467 last year to limit the use of candidate-controlled ballot measure committees. The first version of the bill would have made such committees subject to the same contribution limits as candidates for state offices. But some legislators felt the bill went too far.

So I amended the bill to improve its chances of passage. The revised bill would bar candidates and elected officials from using money from candidate-controlled ballot measure committees to promote themselves, their candidacies or other candidates. Yet the Legislature’s Democratic leadership shelved the bill.

Any real campaign-finance reform begins with the reform of candidate-controlled ballot measure committees.